The world has already begun to welcome 2011, as the New Year has been entered by people living on some Pacific islands, Australia and Asia. As the Earth revolves today, bringing the rest of us into the year 2011, I'll be updating this entry, to show people all over as they ready themselves, celebrate and welcome the New Year. 2011 will be observed as the Year of the Rabbit in the Chinese zodiac, a year with attributes of gentleness, persistence and luck. Happy New Year everyone! (56 photos total)

Fireworks explode over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House during a pyrotechnic show to celebrate the New Year January 1, 2011. Local authorities planned for over 1.5 million people to crowd the Sydney Harbour foreshore and welcome in the new year under the massive fireworks display. (REUTERS/Tim Wimborne)

Members of Sao Paulo's Commerce Association release balloons with the colors of the Brazilian flag to celebrate the end of the year in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Thursday, Dec. 30, 2010. (AP Photo/Andre Penner) #

Children wear bear furs during New Year ritual dances in Comanesti, Romania on Friday Dec. 30 2010. In pre-Christian rural traditions, dancers wearing colored costumes or animal furs, toured from house to house in villages singing and dancing to ward off evil. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) #

The Times Square New Year's Eve Ball is tested they day before New Year's Eve December 30, 2010 in New York City. The 11,875-pound Waterford crystal ball will descend a 141-foot tall flagpole to mark the beginning of 2011. (Mario Tama/Getty Images) #

New Year's wishes for 2011 are tacked on the Carnival Cruise Lines Wishing Wall at the Times Square Visitors Center in New York, December 20, 2010. The slips of paper with people's wishes on them will be included in the confetti that will fall from the tops of buildings around the Square on New Year's Eve. (REUTERS/Ray Stubblebine/Carnival Cruise Lines) #

Men dressed as Vikings lead the torchlight procession as it makes its way to Princess Street for the start of the New Year celebrations December 30, 2010 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Thousands of people joined in the torchlight procession, followed by the burning of a Viking long ship. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) #

Zoo owner Manny Tangco holds up a rabbit and a tiger cub while surrounded by local children at the Malabon Zoo in Malabon, in northern Metro Manila, Philippines on December 28, 2010 to illustrate the shift from the "Year of the Tiger" to the "Year of the Rabbit". (NOEL CELIS/AFP/Getty Images) #

Faithful pour cider on a statue of Yemanja, Goddess of the Sea, during a ceremony that is part of traditional New Year's celebrations on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Wednesday Dec. 29, 2010. Yemanja is from the African Yoruban religion brought to America by West African slaves. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana) #

Performers from the Guo Guang Opera Company pose after their rehearsal for a new program titled "Pan Jin Lian", to be performed on New Year's Eve, at the National Theatre Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan on December 30, 2010. (REUTERS/Pichi Chuang) #

Men driving on an open vehicle are splashed with water thrown from an office building in Montevideo's old district in Uruguay on December 31, 2010. Ripped pages from calendars and water from buckets or in balloons are typically launched from office windows in this neighborhood to celebrate the end of year. (MIGUEL ROJO/AFP/Getty Images) #

Women in rabbit costumes pose in front of the Tokyo Tower which is illuminated to celebrate New Year after a countdown event at the Zojo-ji Buddhist temple in Tokyo January 1, 2011. The year of 2011 is the Year of The Rabbit on the Chinese zodiac calendar. (REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon) #

A Taiwanese performer plays a drum during the New Year's eve ceremony, Friday, Dec. 31, 2010, in Taipei, Taiwan. The events marked the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of China, Taiwan's official name, after a revolution led by Sun Yat-sen toppled China's last Qing dynasty. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying) #

The number 2011 is written in the air with a sparkler in front of Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral) during New Year's Eve celebrations in Vienna, Austria on December 31, 2010. (REUTERS/Lisi Niesner) #

John and Anne Pham wear Santa hats as they pose for a holiday photo with their granddaughter Amanda Pham in front of the downtown Los Angeles skyline, on December 31, 2010 at Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area in Los Angeles, California. Unusually low temperatures have brought the snow level down to between 2,000 and 2,500 feet (610 and 762 meters) in the surrounding mountain areas. (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

People dance on a decorated street on New Year's Eve, in Bangalore, India, Friday, Dec. 31, 2010. India increased security in major cities across the country on Tuesday after receiving information that a Pakistan-based militant group was planning an attack over New Year's weekend. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi) #

Tourists use sparklers to write 2011 for a photograph in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Dec. 31, 2010. Hundreds of thousands of people celebrate the beginning of the New Year 2010 in the German capital. (AP Photo/Gero Breloer) #

A Christian girl lights a candle before a New Year mass at Saint Serkis church in central Tehran December 31, 2010. New Year is celebrated by the Assyrian and Armenian minorities in Iran, where a majority of its citizens are Muslim. (REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl) #

Lebanese crowds watch fireworks on New Year's Eve in the heart of central Beirut at midnight on January 1, 2011 as New Year revellers around the planet began welcoming 2011 in a blaze of fireworks and parties. (ANWAR AMRO/AFP/Getty Images) #

Fireworks light up the London skyline and Big Ben just after midnight on January 1, 2011 in London, England. Thousands of people lined the banks of the River Thames in central London to see in the New Year with a spectacular fireworks display. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) #

A group of revelers watch fireworks illuminating the scene, from their high vantage point over the city of Davos, Switzerland, at the beginning of the New Year, early on Saturday, Jan. 1, 2011. (AP Photo/Keystone, Martin Kappler) #

Fireworks burst above Yangon's landmark Shwedagon pagoda as Myanmar people gather to welcome the New Year 2011 at Kan Daw Gyi park in Yangon late on December 31, 2010. (Soe Than WIN/AFP/Getty Images) #

Hardy Dutch swimmers brave the icy North Sea on January 1, 2011 in Scheveningen, Netherlands. An estimated record number of more than 10,000 participants took part in this year's traditional New Year's dive. (Jasper Juinen/Getty Images) #